Fakk the sistem

Watch trailer HERE:

The short documentary covers part of the vibrant Bandung Punk Scene in 2023. Three bands, three full songs and some behind-the-scenes-material. It was the circumstances (screendance and curatorial) that took Berg Duo (Ami Skånberg and Anna Viola Hallberg) to Indonesia. In addition, we allocated two half days to the Punk scene in Bandung. We had promised to provide some material from Indonesia to a documentary being made by Tomas Haglund about Anti Cimex. For this we had two days. In addition to the material we collected for the Gothenburg-based director, we ended up with a material being more of a personal exploration of the punk scene, and decided to do a short documentary of our own. Our quest was to search for the imprint of the Swedish punk group Anti Cimex in today’s Indonesian punk scene from the point of view of Skånberg’s performance persona. The project is made in cinéma-vérité tradition.

About FAKK THE SISTEM:
History writing as we have known it, frequently generates stories to maintain society – this with its limitations that revolves on normalcy. Parts of society are left out, where some individuals are perceived as different and other. Hierarchies create a binary between the normal and the alternative. Both artists have in their practice worked with legacy and the topic of audiovisual memory for the future. However, more so through an imprint of political contingencies, experiences and the energy of the selected group. Ami Skånberg reconnected with her personal relation to Anti Cimex, and her bass playing brother in the band for the first time in 2017, in The Laughter of Medusa: a two and a half-hour solo performance on stage, facilitating filmed, narrated and archival footage. Through Skånberg’s Screendance practice, she got in touch with The Bandung International Dance film Festival in 2013. Her films THE DANCE OF THE SUN and WALLFLOWER were screened there in 2013 and in 2017. Hallberg was on a curatorial mission in Indonesia May 2023. The artists decided to take the opportunity to trace the influence of Anti Cimex in Bandung. A number of questions appeared. Who are the punks in Indonesia? What are they concerned about? Several issues such as mental health, deforestation and gender inequalities were discovered.

FAKK THE SISTEM is a stand alone 16 min documentary built on a personal exploration of the traces of Anti Cimex primarily in Bandung, hence contacts were generated with Punks visiting the city from Borneo, Jakarta and Sumatra. Hallberg and Skånberg are curious about the state of mind of resistance and freedom fight in Indonesia. This put in perspective with the conditions of the Swedish government supported rehearsal spaces for young bands in the 1990s is something the artists reflect over. How is this linked to forming a youth that is engaged with the construction of present and future societal systems? FAKK THE SISTEM is not only a fan movie, or a legacy movie of Anti Cimex. It is also a brief insight to what the Bandung punk scene looks like in 2023.

”Punk in Indonesia has often been described as a spectacular performance of disorder and resistance, a youthful style that posed a disruptive challenge to the authoritarian hierarchy and discipline of the New Order regime. The punk scene in Bandung has developed in the context of what is often referred to as ‘post-authoritarian’ Indonesia. Punk gives another historical narrative of the development of urban communities, and, while remaining a minority, is highly visible among urban Indonesian youth lifestyles.” FRANS ARI PRASETYO

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– WORLD CINEMATIC PREMIERE: ”TOO DRUNK TO WATCH” Punkfilmfest Berlin has selected FAKK THE SISTEM. Screening in Berlin during the festival September 11-17 , 2023

– semifinalist for Pebbles Underground Art and Video Festival 2024

– OFFICIAL JURY SELECTION: ”ART FILM, SPIRIT AWARDS”  Toronto Canada, July 2023

– IN EXHIBITION ”BECOMING LANDSCAPE”, DasEssZimmer, Bonn, Germany, August-September, 2023

– SWEDISH CINEMATIC PREMIERE, Aug 31st 2025 at Gåsebäcks Filmfestival

Trt: 16:45:00

Year: 2023

Media: 4K

Language: English, Swedish, Indonesian

Subtitles: English

Codec: mp4 with aac sound

Formats: Available in requested format for screenings and festival
Keywords: archival activism, video essay, short documentary, punk, indonesia, sweden,fan film, intersectional